INCLUSIVE NEIGHBOURHOOD PROJECT

Taste, Talk and Learn...

Sept 2011

As part of Ballynafeigh Community Development Association’s (BCDA) Shared Neighbourhood Week, Ballynafeigh Methodist Church opened it doors to the Inclusive Neighbourhood Project’s (INP) ‘Taste, Talk and Learn’ event on Saturday 10th September - giving people the opportunity to meet their neighbours and find out a little more about the reality of life as an asylum seekers or refugee in Belfast.

On the day, there was musical fusion, cooking demonstrations and free food tasting from the refugee and host community. A short theatre performance opened discussion around the reality and challenges of integration and explored what it means to be part of an ‘inclusive neighbourhood’.

Tammy Brown of BCDA welcomed the SEUPB PEACE III funded project’s involvement in its week-long programme, the benefits of which were emphasised by Ann Marie White of Corrymeela

“the event was a great success as it allowed real conversations between neighbours around integration and gave people an opportunity to find out a bit more about life in Belfast or from some of the countries that people may have come from, seeking a safe place to live in Ballynafeigh.”

INP is a partnership between Corrymeela and the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (NICRAS) to support integration between the refugee and host community in Northern Ireland.

WHAT IS THE INCLUSIVE NEIGHBOURHOOD PROJECT

The Inclusive Neighbourhood Project (INP) is a partnership between Corrymeela and the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (NICRAS) developed to support integration between the refugee and host communities in neighbourhoods across Northern Ireland.

THE AIM OF THE PROJECT

The aim of the project is to support integration between the host community and the growing refugee community in Northern Ireland. 

HOW THIS IS DONE

• By developing a better understanding of each other and working together in the neighbourhood.
• By the development of a package of training to enhance understanding and awareness.
• By the promotion of ways of dealing with difference that may reduce the likelihood of sectarian behaviour and violence, and increase the potential for mutual integration.

PLAN OF ACTION

The plan is to work with people from the refugee and host communities in specific shared neighbourhoods. To identify and train people from both groups in these areas, and to work together to support the process of integration between neighbours. Part of this process is to develop positive links and understanding of one another and the culture surrounding the other in a safe environment. Some specific objectives are:

• To identify the specific issues faced by the refugee community and host community and design relevant training with both groups to address these issues
• To provide training for members of the host community and refugee community through residential and community based programmes covering cultural diversity, conflict management, facilitation skills, orientation, mediation, creative expression group work and communication.
• To support, resource and mentor key members of both host and refugee communities with training programmes and materials.
• To develop common actions between the host community and the refugee community and build up a support.
• Informing and supporting advocacy groups.
• To establish and share the learning and good practice from the project.

Paul Fitzsimmons, INP Community Facilitators
...the thing I really enjoy about being a facilitator on the project is meeting a wide range of people from diverse cultures and life experience and the friendships that are built up....
WATCH VIDEO

Teurayi Rugoyne, INP Community Facilitators
...it is a project that is definitely going to build a unity between the host community groups and the ethnic minority groups as refugees or asylum seekers...
WATCH VIDEO

LISTEN!

The Inclusive Neighbourhood Project will be featured in this Sunday’s (17/10/10) radio broadcast of Sunday Sequence. If you tune into Radio Ulster between the hours of 8.30-10.00am, you will hear about the project and the process of integration featuring members of the refugee and host community speaking about their experiences in neighbourhoods in Belfast. It also looks at the reality of life as an asylum seeker in Belfast, with first hand accounts from people in the asylum process in Belfast.

Recording took place at the Inclusive health festival at An Droichead on 22/09/10 and the performance of the INP dialogue, ‘Real Lives…real People’; at Ballynafeigh Community House during Shared Neighbourhood Week on 22/09/10.